Dempsey graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1974 and received his army commission that same year as an armor officer with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He subsequently pursued education both within and outside the military, completing the Armor Officer Advanced Course in 1979 and earning a master of arts degree in English from Duke University in 1984. In the mid-1980s Dempsey joined the English department at West Point, eventually becoming an associate professor. In 1988 he earned a second master’s degree, in military art and science at Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. That year he was assigned to Germany as an executive officer and operations officer in the 3rd Armored Division. During the Persian Gulf War (1990–91) he was deployed to Iraq, and in 1991 he received his first command of a battalion as part of the 1st Armored Division.

Dempsey returned to the United States in 1993, serving in the army’s human resources division as chief of the Armor Branch. From 1996 to 1998 he was commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. In the mid-1990s he earned a third master’s degree, in national security strategy, from the National War College in Washington, D.C. He subsequently served as an assistant deputy director (1998–99) and special assistant to the chairman (1999–01) for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. From 2001 to 2003 he was stationed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, training the Saudi National Guard. Shortly after the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003, Dempsey took command of the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad. He remained in Iraq for more than a year before redeploying his division to Germany. Beginning in August 2005, Dempsey served another two years in Iraq, this time training and equipping the new Iraqi Security Forces.

In August 2007 Dempsey became deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, and in 2008 he briefly served as that body’s acting commander. In July 2008 Dempsey was elevated to four-star (full) general, and later that year he became commander of the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, which is responsible for army development and doctrine. In April 2011 he was sworn in as U.S. Army Chief of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Army. Just one month later he was nominated by Pres. Barack Obama to replace Mike Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; he was confirmed by the Senate in August, officially taking up the post in September. Dempsey became known for a cautious approach to the deployment of troops, which earned him both support and criticism. During his tenure, major challenges included the Russian annexation of Crimea, the Arab Spring, and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. He also faced budget cuts to the military. In 2015 Dempsey stepped down as chairman and retired from the army.

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